Analysis

He’s lost tough matches in the past two years to Selby but he’s no longer here and I like the fact Ding said he thinks he’s the favourite for the tournament.

He took out Ronnie last year and the thing he has above everyone, apart from Ronnie, is consistent scoring over long distances. He also has the best cueball control and if he finds 85% of his game he will take a lot of stopping.

He is the right age and I think he desperately wants to win this. He has all the t-shirts apart from this one.